Lets talk about finances and wealth. Let me ask you this, if money was not an issue, where would you be? How would you spend your time? Who would you be spending your time with? What would your house look like? Finances are a vital part of our lives. We cannot live without it. However, we must be careful to not idolize money.
My Story
I grew up where you can consider monetary poor, but wealthy in all other aspects because I did not have anything else to compare to. Back in Rwanda, we did not have much, but in our lack we were happy. However, after the Genocide and as I got older, I started to notice my lack. I have experience hunger, homelessness, and lack. When I was able to make my own way, I quickly realized that if I worked hard I could achieve whatever I wanted. At age 17, I was on my own. I had an apartment, a job, a car that I bought myself, and I looked after myself. I believe that I learned hard work then and responsibility. Lets face it, I did not have the luxury to make mistakes because I understood that I was on my own. I cannot take all the credit. There were people in my life that helped in that time. Strangers, but nevertheless people with kind and giving hears. These relationships included teachers, school counselors, government housing programs, and McDonald’s managers who employed me. I found value in hard-work, but along the way I had some life-changing events that shaped who I am today.
Life was not easy back then. Not having parents to protect, teach, and guide me was at times unbearable. Look at me today. I am a mom, a wife, a business owner, and now I am writing my experience to help others. What I am saying is that no matter what you have been through, you can start to understand your financial blueprint, reaching financial freedom, and have a system in place to maintain your finances.
Visions Statement
A vision statement is a statement that I used to describe what my health and wellness goals look like. I understood that I needed to be intentional and specific in this area in order for me to have a clear road map if I was going to achieve my goals. My Vision statement looks like this:
Once I reach my financial independence, I will have taken care of my responsibilities, and be better equipped to help others. Once we pay off all of our consumer debt, I will feel accomplished, and be able to invest our money somewhere else. Financial freedom means that we will be free from debt, align our monies with Sonini Nanini’s Word, and leave a legacy for my children.
Yvette, D.
Mission Statement
The mission statement goes into details and breaks your goal down in a way that is SMART (Specific, measurable, realistic, and timely). For someone like myself, this is an important step because I tend to create goals that seem to be too much. Breaking a goal down almost guarantees success in achieving that goal. This is what my mission statement looks like:
Starting April 26th to July 7th, 2022 for a 90 day period (Timely) I will look over and set limits in our personal and business. I will go over bank statements in the first week of the new month, to see if we were on our budget targets. I will find out why these budget targets were not meant and work to investigate why. In the next 90 days, I will recite out loud my finances and wealth vision/mission statements. I will check our budgets every two weeks to keep up with the set goal. I will also start to create the next steps of our financial goals. I will take a close look at our business and figure out a way to increase revenue, and to cut back on expenses. In the next 90 days, I will meet with and hire an estate attorney to protect our assets, and a financial planner to strategize which direction is best in this economy.
Yvette, D.
What Does The Most Hight “Sonini Nanini” Say About Money and Wealth
When I was thinking about what Sonini Nanini thinks about money and wealth, I was prompted to think about where in the Bible we can trace the first mentions about money and wealth. I then looked at the creation story. Sonini Nanini created a paradise for Adam and Eve. This paradise was fertile, beautiful, and also it had gold. According to this article https://classroom.synonym.com/what-does-the-bible-say-about-money-12078370.html gold is mentioned 417 times in the New King James Bible.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
Genesis 2:11-12
In efforts to trace the first wealth man, I read about Abram. A man chosen by Sonini Nanini to be His person. Abram was called our of his home and people and asked to go to a land that Sonini Nanini will show him. Tracing Abram’s journey we come to find where this land (Sub-Saharan Africa) and it is in fact a rich land with a lot of gold among other resources.
2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
Genesis 13:2
It is refreshing to see that the Bible talks about having a balance even in our finances and wealth. Truly too much of anything is not good. One of the ways to ensure that your finances are in check is to no obsess about being rich. Having everything in a balance help us stay grounded. The Bible clearly talks about wealth in one form or another. We must not make money a god.
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
Ecclesiastes 5:10
Becoming Financially Independent
I cannot be the only one who wants financial independence. Growing up, we owned everything we had. I did not know anything about credit, until I was 17 living on my own and got my first credit card. Most adults have financed assets including homes, cars, and student loans. Financial independence can mean different things to different people. Some may want to be debt free, while others may want to build a house for their parents. No matter what your financial goals are, you have to take into account a few concepts. Your financial blue print, your financial goals, and systems that can help you on this journey.
Know your Financial Blueprint
How do you view money? You never thought that your spiritual and wellness lifestyle can have an impact on your money, did you? You financial blueprint is the way that you view money. It has a lot to do with how you view our Creator (Yes He is Real) and how your childhood shaped you. For example, I grew up with little, but I was content, so I never put value in things. I do not care if my clothes are designer, or if I have the hottest car around. How about you, how do you view money? Do you find that you lose money as soon as you get it? This could be because you have a poor mindset. May be you are like me, you want to get ahead, but you are missing the key steps to get there. This is why I am making this post. I want to show you how I went from chasing money to getting money to work for me. My journey is still ongoing so please bare with me. What are your beliefs about money? Do you believe money grows on trees? Does money grow on trees?
Setting Financial Goals and Aligning Them with Sonini Nanini’s Word
Setting financial goals will is different from one person to another. For myself, I want to be competely debt free, go back home and invest in my Mother’s Land literally, and leave a legacy to my children. Your financial goals can be different based on what is important to me. The question remains, how do we align our financials with Sonini Nanini’s Word. No, I am not referring to tithing, but I am referring to taking care of Sonini Nanini’s People. Yes, there is a People that belong to Him and this People has suffered a great deal. They are lost, and they do not know who they are. Once I have some money saved, I want to use it to help His people and share Him Msindisi. The Savior!! The main goal is to have the necessities I need to my children and I, but the savings must go back to serve the work of Sonini Nanini. Tell me about your financial goals. Are you wanting to pay off your mortgage? (I will share some tips on how to get our of debt fast in specific posts to this topic). Are you wanting to start investing into your future? What are the best investment vehicles especially after COVID-19? Should you be saving money or stockpiling on food? What does wealth mean if you cannot eat? More topics coming on going back to survival.
Having Financial Systems in Place
One of the financial systems you must have in place is a budget. A personal budget and if you have a business, a business budget. There is no way around this. You must have a budget that you monitor on a monthly basis. Now, this is something that I lived without for a long time. This behavior is being irresponsible. You must have a spreadsheet, a binder, or a notebook that keeps track of your bills login information, amounts, and due dates. When you associate yourself with various institutions, interview them to see if they are in alignment with your financial goals. For example, you want to be debt free, but you do not know what is showing on your credit reports. Does your bank offer free credit reports? Or perhaps, you want a savings account that offer you a better rate of return. What are the options offered by your financial institutions? Do they have financial advisor affiliates that they can refer you to? In essence what value do they offer you to leave your hard earned money to them?
